Thanks for all the input.
Is the WJ master just because of the rear disk brakes?
I'd guess yes because the explorer 8.8 rear.
Yep, that was my thought process. The disk 8.8 along with the larger WJ brakes in the front led me to think I should just rob the entire WJ brake system, it looks like a pretty simple swap so I figured why not.
I would do weld on LCA skid plates. Those like to rip right off the axle or bend if they're not plated.
If you get to the point of doing shafts the only ones I've had luck with are Revolution Gear and Axle chromos with 1350 u-joints. On 760x stock shafts I tacked caps, fully welded caps and even modified a set for full circle clips. They all failed miserably (and often).
Yes, these. Also, cam bolt eliminator plates at the same time.
XJ axle shouldn't have those but who knows...?
If no cam plates, then replace with weld washers.
Beef up control arm mounts added to the list. Given the intended use of this rig I hope to get away with stock/junkyard axles, but I guess time will tell.
I would skip the inner sleeves. The pig and the leverage the small tubes have on it are the main weakness in the housing. It's my personal opinion that the sleeves just add weight. A truss is much better.
This. Very little resistance to bending gain with sleeves. Pound for pound a truss can’t be beat.
Alright, I figured this would cause some discussion. So I've read numerous threads out there about inner sleeves and read several comments that, "they do nothing but add weight". First off, I agree they are no truss, but I don't think I need a truss for this rig. Other cons for a truss in this application in my mind are cost, weight, and just more to package in general. That said, if the sleeve does add some reasonable amount of strength and it's low cost/easy to implement it seems worth it. Let me explain my thought process and then please poke holes in it. I primarily think of the sleeve supporting the center of the long side tube from bending, so question 1 - is this typically where folks have seen the tube bend? Assuming yes, I think back to my engineering school days and beam design, specifically the section modulus which dictates the beam (tubes) resistance to bending. A D30 tube (2.5"OD, 2"ID) has a sect. mod. of 0.91in^3, if it was a homogenous tube (which it's not) a sleeved tube (2.5" OD, 1.5" ID) has a sect. mod. of 1.34in^3. So a sleeved (assumed homogenous) tube would have a ~47% increase in sect. mod., but it's not homogenous so there is probably some amount of knock down, but still even if it's 33% or a 25% increase that's pretty substantial. Like I said, I keep going back on forth on this one; not trying to argue with folks advice and I'd be happy to learn I'm thinking about this the wrong way so all feedback is appreciated.
Thanks again.